ISLAMABAD – Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed that the ‘punishment’ being meted out to him in the backdrop of Panama papers judgment and subsequent trial in accountability court was being dictated.
In a media interaction on Wednesday after appearing before the accountability court, he added that apparently the detailed Supreme Court order dismissing their review petition in the Panama Papers case was written by their political rivals.
‘The review petition was a message to the accountability court that Nawaz has to be punished at any cost,’ alleged the former premier.
The former legislator further recalled that similar remarks were made in 1999 (after the bloodless 1999 coup led by Pervaiz Musharraf) in the plane-hijacking case, saying he was trapped at the time and the same is being repeated today.
Responding to a query about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s bail approval by the anti-terrorism court (ATC) yesterday, Nawaz said: “The courts have double standards. We are striving against these double standards and will take this struggle to its logical end.”
Sharif, who was disqualified by a five-member bench of the top court in the purview of Panama papers case on July 28th, added that the principles and criteria of courts differ in his and Imran’s cases.
Accountability Court Proceedings
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz President, Nawaz Sharif appeared alongside his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain Safdar before the accountability court in Islamabad regarding the corruption references filed by National Accountability Bureau.
The court also summoned two of prosecution witnesses named Sidra Mansoor of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Jahangir Ahmad of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to record their statements in three references.
Sidra Mansoor recorded his statement before the court today (Wednesday). The witness informed the judge that she appeared before the NAB Lahore team on August 18 and furnished all required documents.
She further said that an audit report of Hudaibiya Paper Mills for the duration of 2000-2005 was submitted to the NAB.
The counsels of Nawaz and his children, Khawaja Harris and Amjad Pervez, raised the objection that the witness submitted unverified documents.
